


Persistence is a Virtue

by Omskivar



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-16 11:49:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21507466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omskivar/pseuds/Omskivar
Summary: The connection that Snoke fostered between Kylo Ren and Rey is still there. Kylo wants Rey's attention, and he'll pull out all the stops to get it...
Kudos: 2





	Persistence is a Virtue

When Kylo Ren closed his eyes, all he could see was Rey staring back at him, through him, until the bay doors on the _Millennium Falcon_ closed and cut them off from each other. 

In the days following the Resistance’s escape on Crait, he’d tried to cross that gap and connect with her mind once more. Every time, however, he was met with silence. He was reaching out into the dark, flailing out for nothing. Whatever connection they’d had was gone, cut in the same stroke with which he’d cut Snoke in half. 

But then, Snoke was dead when it happened on Crait. That connection was still there. So why the hell couldn’t he do it himself?!

He tried again and again, under as many different circumstances as he could manipulate. It seemed both he and Rey needed to be awake in order to commune, but distance and knowing each other’s location wasn’t necessary. He just needed to catch her at the right time. So he tried when he woke. On the bridge. In the mess. While meditating. After reprimanding Hux with yet another reminder of just what the Force could do. He tried whenever the urge struck him, regardless of how appropriate the situation was. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of Rey, a flicker of her surroundings, but never anything concrete. After the fifth time (or the fifteenth or the fiftieth, he’d lost count) she locked eyes with him in the split second he could see her, and he knew. She was aware of his presence, and she was blocking him out.

_She_ was blocking _him_. A nothing little junker rat was ignoring the Supreme Leader of the First Order. How _dare_ she? It wasn’t like he wanted to see her, he told himself; he was gaining valuable intelligence on the Resistance. Besides, he was more experienced than she was. He was her better. And now that Snoke was dead he was the most powerful Force-user in the galaxy. By all rights he should have been her Master. She had no right to deny him.

(And if his outrage masked his desires, then he was all the better for it. Rey was nothing more than part of Kylo’s agenda, and he couldn’t afford to be distracted from that. That small part of him that longed for the comfort of a human connection was drowned beneath the rage that constantly simmered beneath the surface.)

So he tried a different approach. The girl was flustered seeing him shirtless? Then he’d see how she reacted when he made contact wearing nothing at all. The connection didn’t last for more than a few seconds, but Rey’s red-faced spluttering left a gratified smirk on Kylo’s face for the rest of the day. 

Of course Rey was going to retaliate. The girl was just as hard-headed and impulsive as he was. He expected nothing less. And yet, when she finally did strike back at him, he found he wasn’t prepared at all.

* * *

Once she realized Kylo Ren was trying to contact her through the Force, Rey started spending as much time as possible on the _Millennium Falcon_. She wasn’t confident that she would be able to cut Kylo off every time, and the less she revealed about the Resistance, however inadvertently, the better. Kylo’s efforts to get her attention only convinced her that she’d made the right decision. It was terribly distracting to have to deal with, especially when Kylo kept trying to shock her. She could deal with violent outbursts, though. It helped to think of them as tantrums thrown by an exceptionally large baby.

Suffice to say, it caught her off guard when Kylo opted for nudity over a more aggressive approach.

When her cheeks no longer felt like they were on fire, and she was absolutely sure she wasn’t communicating with Kylo in any way, Rey plunked herself down in the pilot’s seat to think. She’d dealt with men like this a time or two back on Jakku — men who wanted her attention and would go to any lengths to get it. Ignoring them rarely made them stop; they usually ramped up their efforts instead, until she was forced to deal with them head-on. Only this time she didn’t think whacking Kylo over the head with her staff would be an effective solution. No, she was going to have to think of another way to shut him down. 

She mulled over the problem for hours before the solution finally smacked her in the face. It was so simple, so practical — how had she not thought of it before?

Rey didn’t have to wait long. Preparing for the encounter had been surprisingly easy. There was only one person whose assistance she required, and they were more than happy to help. She was already practically living on the _Falcon_ , which ensured they wouldn’t be disturbed. Extensive meditation ensured that the connection remained open. All she had to do, when she finally felt his presence, was open her eyes. 

Seated across from her, General Leia grinned and waved. “Hi, sweetie.”

Kylo appeared to be turning red and going pale at the same time, resulting in big pink blotches all over his cheeks. The phrase ‘face like a smacked arse’ came to mind. The connection shut down, midway through Leia saying “Be a good boy, Ben.” And Rey was left with blessed silence.

For about a week, at least.


End file.
